Even though I'm still irritated that I've spent almost an hour looking for my phone, I bite my bottom lip.
EBONY:
Where are you?
ESSENCE:
Cornfield. Come and get me, little flower.
Why did this have to happen right now? Why did he choose this moment to torment me?
EBONY:
My nephew needs to get home. He’s asleep in the car and my sister is probably worried about me now.
ESSENCE:
Then you better hurry up.
I huff out a breath and run into the cornfield. The Ferris wheel attendant calls after me, but I don’t stop long enough to hear what he says. I barrel through the stalks of corn and try to push them out of my way, but they don’t budge, so I’m sure I'll be bruised by the time I leave this field.
The flashlight on Ebony’s phone lights up the area in front of me, and when I look at the ground, I see boot marks imprinted into the dirt. They’ve been doing hayrides all day so it could be from anyone, but something is telling me that those prints belong to my stalker.
The blue dot on the screen starts moving again. Any desire I was feeling just minutes ago is gone, because why the fuck is he taunting me like this?
“Fucking asshole,” I swear, hissing when my shoulder hits a particularly solid corn stalk.
I rub my shoulder and continue following the masked man deeper into the cornfield until he makes an abrupt turn back in the direction of the Ferris wheel.
“Motherfucker!” I yell. In the distance, his deep laughter taunts me.
I turn back around and run as fast as I can out of the cornfield. I’ll trap his ass and make him give me my phone back.
A few minutes later, I end up back at the Ferris wheel at the same time as him. My mouth dries up at the sight of his massive body standing just feet away from me. I try to swallow, but there’s literally no lubrication in my mouth for me to do so.
I thought I'd be so tough, all big and bad enough to confront him, but now that I'm standing here, I can’t seem to find any of the words I want to say.
He takes a step towards me, my phone in one hand, and a knife in the other. My knees get weak, and I feel like I'm going to fall to the ground, but I straighten up and look him in the eye.
“So, all this time that you’ve been following me, breaking into my house and texting me, you’ve been waiting for this moment? To kill me?”
He takes another step toward me and cocks his head in a predatory manner.
“Is that what you think, little flower?” he asks in that low, deep voice that I love so much. “That I have the intention of killing you when I haven’t even had a chance to taste you first?”
“Oh, so you’re going to take what you want before you kill me?” I ask sarcastically, but my voice still shakes.
He takes one final step until he’s standing so close to me, my nipples graze the thin fabric of his tight black shirt. I try to ignore the thrill his proximity sends through me.
“Let me make one thing clear to you, Essence,” he says, towering over me so much that I have to lean my head all the way back to look up at him. “When I take what I want from you, it will be because you give it to me.”
He drags the tip of his knife along my jawline, making me shiver.
“And I know for a fact that you would give me anything I asked for.”
I scoff, but it comes out more like a breathless puff. God, he makes me so deliciously nervous, even considering he murdered someone just days ago.
“How do you know that?” I ask.
